News – Politics – Opinion – Podcasts
John Klar 
The purchase of Jetro Restaurant Depot by food mega-distributor Sysco has raised concerns (and eyebrows) that increasing concentration of market power in ever fewer hands threatens free markets and will contribute to food price inflation. Like market consolidation in farming, fertilizer production, farm equipment manufacture, seed companies, and other food-related sectors, the pending merger certainly … Read more
Ken Lund The Green Mountain State is a textbook case of how progressives employ social justice causes to drain the wallets and dreams of citizens. A growing populist backlash against a land use scheme that will steal wealth from property owners without any compensation is just the tip of the Marxist iceberg that is sinking the once-Republican … Read more
Greta Thunberg’s shrieks of climate doom have become fainter as she moves past Gaza, seeking another grievance du jour. The borders are secure despite past claims that Republicans were preventing effective immigration enforcement. DEI is now DOA, and mandated trans pronouns are drifting into the past. Fake meat is teetering, too, but Illinois has yet to … Read more
A pending Connecticut bill that would ban Styrofoam take-out packaging and impose numerous other mandates on restaurants in the Constitution State illustrates the classic metaphor of roads to Hell being paved with good intentions. Some restaurants perceive that Connecticut’s constitution is being crumpled up and burned in the legislature’s drive to stop Styrofoam from being … Read more
Growing awareness about a progressive Vermont land-use measure has sparked widespread populist backlash. Act 181 was passed in 2024 by the Green Mountain State’s progressive supermajority, overcoming Governor Phil Scott’s veto. Falsely framed as a pro-housing bill, the stealth measure seeks to preserve natural resources at the expense of traditional development rights, draining wealth from property … Read more
In response to egregious cases of medical malpractice, to many hospitals’ failure to properly hold physicians accountable, and to claims by physicians that the peer review process was often weaponized for political or commercial purposes, Congress enacted the Health Care Quality Improvement Act (HCQIA) in 1986. The law was intended to protect patient safety and … Read more
A recent study of California data on pesticide contamination in the state’s produce crops found widespread per- and polyfluoralkyl substances (PFAS) residues in numerous fruits. Concerns about the presence of chemicals in Americans’ food have escalated in recent years, amplified by warnings about the role of food quality in the chronic disease epidemic chronicled by … Read more
JBS Foods is battling its workers at a Colorado facility over wages and other policies the local union claims are unacceptable. Workers launched a strike against the company on March 16, exposing the economic tensions among corporations, workers, and consumers. The strike also highlights the problems with communism compared to free markets. The JBS Strike … Read more
An effort to make Colorado the first US state to fully legalize prostitution (or, politically correctly, “sex workers”) has failed to gain sufficient oomph to become law. The initiative’s mega-flop reveals voter distaste for some ultra-progressive “social justice” policies. George Soros at Work The usual suspects have backed legalized prostitution nationwide. George Soros and his octopus of … Read more
Most Americans don’t realize it, but Vermont has become quite progressive. Even some liberal Californians who moved to Vermont have remarked how much more extreme the Green Mountain State is today compared to the land of Gavin Newsom. For years, those progressives have been taunting the federal government to dispatch ICE for a visit. On … Read more
It is difficult to imagine that the mighty United States could face threats to its seemingly abundant supply of grocery store and restaurant offerings. America has led the world in creating the modern industrial food system (known as “the Green Revolution”) and remains the world’s top food-exporting nation. Yet economic and logistical fractures have become … Read more
Many Americans may wish that one day the nation can return to inter-party comity. You know, those “good old days” when we could politically disagree with our family members over a beer while the turkey was roasting and then sit down to carve it up and share bread on Thanksgiving. Some may hope that once … Read more
How Corporations, Activists, and Climate Alarmists Are Waging War on Farmers My first book, Small Farm Republic, argued that focusing on environmental carcinogens and other toxins was a wiser policy strategy than climate change policies that often spewed chemical pollution in renewables manufacturing geared toward the pursuit of carbon dioxide. I asserted that policies supporting … Read more
For the first time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s newly formulated Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) will meet, on March 18 and 19, to address injuries from Covid-19 vaccines. Since the pandemic, more Americans have become concerned about vaccine safety and whether their vaccine injuries will be recognized. This raises an urgent legal question: Do … Read more
The political world is in a tizzy over alleged backpedaling on toxic food dyes by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), compounded by President Donald Trump’s executive order supporting the domestic production of glyphosate. Beneath the kerfuffle are nuanced realities that elude most non-farmers (or are ignored by those with axes to grind). The sky … Read more
Donald Trump’s executive order (EO) promoting and protecting domestic glyphosate production spurred widespread backlash, but HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s support of the measure created far more. As an organic beef farmer and MAHA supporter, here’s why I support Secretary Kennedy’s position. I’ve never used a drop of glyphosate (aka Roundup) in my twenty-five … Read more
To stimulate a shift to regenerative ag A group of farmers has collaborated with federal food and agriculture officials to develop a creative proposal to support American agriculture while improving soil health and food quality. The tentatively named Regenerative Agriculture Incentive Loan Program aims to provide low-interest, variable-rate loans to farmers that incentivize regenerative agricultural … Read more
Both political parties have been signaling their commitment to addressing the so-called affordability crisis. A recent report suggests that well-intentioned initiatives to increase minimum wages, while supported by a majority of voters, generally have a negative economic effect on those most in need. Good, old-fashioned economics explains why supply and demand do not bend to … Read more
New Hampshire legislators are trying to bring a semblance of freedom back to the meat market. New Hampshire’s House passed a bill on January 7 that would allow farmers to slaughter and process livestock on the farm and use local “custom” slaughterhouses without a USDA inspection. This would permit direct-to-consumer sales of individual cuts of … Read more
It now seems the incessant rancor and disorder surrounding alleged ICE abuses might be a deflection to shift attention away from the core problem of illegal immigration and how it was openly encouraged under President Joe Biden’s administration. Recent statements by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama advocating for temperance in immigration policies signal Democrats may … Read more